James Gurney

This daily weblog by Dinotopia creator James Gurney is for illustrators, plein-air painters, sketchers, comic artists, animators, art students, and writers. You'll find practical studio tips, insights into the making of the Dinotopia books, and first-hand reports from art schools and museums.

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All images and text are copyright 2015 James Gurney and/or their respective owners. Dinotopia is a registered trademark of James Gurney. For use of text or images in traditional print media or for any commercial licensing rights, please email me for permission.

However, you can quote images or text without asking permission on your educational or non-commercial blog, website, or Facebook page as long as you give me credit and provide a link back. Students and teachers can also quote images or text for their non-commercial school activity. It's also OK to do an artistic copy of my paintings as a study exercise without asking permission.

Monday, July 16, 2012

On a recent sunny day, I noticed this pattern of light and shadow cast across a road. The shadow looked like a piece of dark paper with holes punched out of it.

The circles of dappled light were about three inches in diameter, and they were all of constant size. However some circles were brighter than others.

I looked up to see what was casting the shadow. It was a maple branch 18 feet above the ground. The branch presented a fairly flat projecting surface with a fixed distance from the ground. This is why the circles were the same size.

Typically a tree or a forest presents a variety projecting of surfaces positioned at many different distances from the ground, so the circles or ellipses vary in size and focus. The farther from the ground, the larger—and blurrier—the circles.

I wondered if I could match up the projecting surface of leaves with the pattern on the ground.
It's a pretty close fit, but doesn't match exactly because they aren't shot at exactly opposite angles. At the bottom of the photo on the right you can see the sharp cast shadow of my arms holding up the camera.

Anyway, it's clear that every opening in the leafy surface, regardless of its size or its ragged shape, has its corresponding circle or composite blob of light on the ground.

The branches aren't thick enough to block the sun from that distance, so they disappear completely in the shadow.

Yes, Bob, exactly, thanks for mentioning that. They're essential pinhole projections of the disk of the sun, even though the spaces are a lot bigger than pinholes. On partial eclipses, the circles have a corresponding shape.